


bet the world ends, and you do just fine

by thenewbacklog



Series: TMA Hurt/Comfort Week [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Blood, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, The Magnus Archives Hurt/Comfort Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewbacklog/pseuds/thenewbacklog
Summary: Jon had been scared, at first, that the Admiral wouldn’t remember him. It was second to all the other things he’d been scared of. But he’d been worried, all the same, that the cat who slept on his chest as a kitten, sat near his head or leaned on his leg and purred when the stress of coursework and losing his grandmother and fighting with Georgie had been too much, wouldn’t know him anymore.He’d been wrong, of course. The moment he got in the door, the Admiral wound around his legs so forcefully that Jon almost fell over. And now here he was, distracting Jon from his breakdown in Georgie’s living room.
Relationships: The Admiral & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Series: TMA Hurt/Comfort Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894885
Comments: 12
Kudos: 156





	bet the world ends, and you do just fine

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the TMA hurt/comfort week on tumble/in the Magnus Writers discord. 
> 
> Monday's prompt: Self-worth Issues ♢ Pretend ♢ Shaky hands
> 
> Didn't exactly get all of it, but it's there in spirit. And, more importantly, it's Jon and the Admiral cuddling.
> 
> The Admiral's behavior in this fic is modeled after my cat, who's ridiculously attuned to my emotions, and has spent the last decade and change pulling me back out of my head with loud purring and aggressive cuddling whenever I get too upset. I'm dedicating this fic to her.

Jon sat on Georgie’s sofa, staring at a small, battered paperback he’d opened without really paying attention to what it was. It was always difficult for him to sleep in new places, every new sound and texture set him on edge as much as he tried not to admit it. The last day hadn’t helped matters.

He gave up on sleeping after an especially vivid nightmare about finding Martin, Tim, and someone he didn’t recognize in a pool of blood on his office floor. He’d been in the living room ever since, trying to distract himself, or at least not think.

But that was hardly new for him, was it? If he’d thought, just once, about any of it, about leaving Leitner alone in his office, about Sasha, about smashing the damned table…

Every train of thought since he’d tried to go to bed led him to blood and tunnels and the thing that wasn’t Sasha, how it had hurt her, how it had _liked it_ , and hadn’t that been his fault, too?

He might not be brave, or a good boss, or a good friend, but he should at least be able to protect his assistants. They deserved better than his bringing them down to the Archives and letting them get hurt, letting them die like Gertrude's assistants.

But Sasha had been dead for a long time, and he hadn’t known. No one had mourned her. No one had even noticed.

There was a muffled crack. Jon flinched a little, looking around the room for the source of the sound, and grimaced when he noticed the book on the floor near his feet. He must have dropped it.

Something hit the cushion next to Jon with an ungainly scrabbling noise when he bent forward to pick up the book. He snapped his head to the side, heart racing, breathing shallow, and… and it was the Admiral, coming to see why someone else was awake and moving around the flat at three a.m.

Jon had been scared, at first, that the Admiral wouldn’t remember him. It was second to all the other things he’d been scared of – the police, Elias framing him for Leitner’s murder, Elias murdering Leitner _and Gertrude_ , that Georgie wouldn’t let him stay, that Georgie _would_ let him stay and this would follow him to her doorstep, whether Tim and Martin were in any danger.

But he’d been worried, all the same, that the cat who slept on his chest as a kitten, sat near his head or leaned on his leg and purred when the stress of coursework and losing his grandmother and fighting with Georgie had been too much, wouldn’t know him anymore. Or wouldn’t want to, now that he wasn’t… now that he belonged to...

He’d been wrong, of course. The moment he got in the door, the Admiral wound around his legs so forcefully that Jon almost fell over. And now here he was, distracting Jon from his breakdown in Georgie’s living room.

Jon took a few steadying breaths, and held out one trembling hand for the Admiral to sniff, which the Admiral took as an invitation to rub his head against Jon’s knuckles, purring loudly. Jon scratched behind the Admiral’s ears, smiling tiredly when he curled on the cushion next to Jon and leaned heavily on his thigh.

“Hello, Admiral,” Jon said softly. “Yes, I missed you too. Don’t tell Georgie, but you’re the reason I’m here.”

The Admiral looked up, arching his head into Jon’s hand. Jon laughed tiredly, and resumed scratching.

After a few minutes, the Admiral stretched out so his entire back rested against Jon’s thigh, and purred louder when Jon buried a hand in the fluff on his belly. It didn’t matter if his hands still shook a little, he could at least give the Admiral a belly rub.

Jon could feel his shoulders loosen as he sank back into the cushions. The Admiral had that effect on him in university, and whatever else had changed since then, that apparently hadn’t. If he kept his eyes closed, it felt almost like the last few years hadn’t happened, like he still had a chance to do things right, like his life hadn’t become… this.

The Admiral kept purring. Jon’s hand slowly stilled as he started to drift off.

“All right, I’ll stay. You’re very helpful, you know,” mumbled Jon. He opened his eyes slowly, and let them flutter closed. Nothing was going to happen tonight, he thought, and he was gone.

He didn’t dream.

When Georgie got up the next morning, she found Jon asleep sitting up on the sofa, with his head tipped back against the cushions and one hand resting on a very satisfied-looking Admiral.


End file.
